Category: Inspiration

Feel good by realizing Life IS Good! Hear what drives Co-founder Bert Jacobs
And how the company thrives

You may not know the names Bert and John Jacobs but you’ve certainly seen their T-shirts everywhere. Co-founders of the Life is Good company, theirs is a story of amazing growth from selling shirts out of a van to a $100 million dollar enterprise – which coincidentally was the name of their van.

The basis of their business? Optimism! Here are entrepreneurs that not only don’t advertise because word-of-mouth recommendations keep the sales increasing, but Bert actually operates WITHOUT email. And find out what’s prompted them to donate 10% of their profits to children’s endeavors.

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Bert and Pam

About Bert:

In 1989, Bert and John Jacobs designed their first tee shirt. They knew nothing about the business.

For five years, the brothers hawked tee shirts in the streets of Boston and traveled the East Coast, selling door-to-door in college dormitories.

They collected some good stories, but were not very prosperous. They lived on peanut butter and jelly, slept in their van, and showered when they could.

Chicks were not impressed.

By the Fall of 1994, heading home from a long, less-than-fruitful road trip, Bert and John were desperately searching for answers to keep the dream alive. Little did they know, the only answer they needed was back in Boston, hanging up on their apartment wall – Jake.

One fateful September day, they printed up 48 Jake shirts for a local street fair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They laid the shirts out on their rickety card table. By noontime, all 48 of those tees were gone. A star was born.

Soon Jake was introduced to local retailers, and his simple message of optimism was embraced like nothing the brothers had ever seen. As demand for product soared, Jake’s team grew, and the Little Brand That Could began to spread across America.

Today, the New England based brand stays close to its roots, with an emphasis on simplicity, humor and humility. Through Life is good Festivals, positive products, and a steady dose of ping pong, Jake’s crew does its best to keep the good vibes flowing.

Have you ever wondered how you could make a bigger impact in the world, but you weren’t sure how to start? CEO, entrepreneur, documentary film executive and author Anne Devereux-Mills has some ideas for us! The founder of Parlay House, Anne shares why the Parlay Effect (also the name of her book) can help us make connections and change the world.

She also shares how we can make those painful transitions in life a little easier, what to do about our fear of not being perfect, and how small things can make a big difference. Plus, she’ll also tell us how to start our OWN Parlay House!

Listen to the chat with Pam and Anne by clicking the player below

Anne Devereux-Mills is the accomplished CEO, entrepreneur and documentary film executive behind Parlay House, a salon-style series of gatherings she founded in 2012. Parlay House is committed to sparking authentic conversations and building meaningful, supportive relationships across a diverse range of women. It currently has over 5,000 participants and operates in seven cities across the U.S. and Europe.

Devereux-Mills is also a dedicated mentor for SHE-CAN, an organization supporting and grooming the next generation of female world leaders coming from post-genocide countries. She was a key member of the team that helped pass California’s Proposition 36, which brought fair sentencing to thousands of non-violent inmates as part of California’s Three Strikes reform. Following that victory, she was the Executive Director for the Emmy-nominated

Anne Devereux-Mills

documentary film entitled, The Return and is currently Executive Directing two additional films, Mississippi Red and The Green Dress. Devereux-Mills supported Stanford University by serving as the Executive Director of Healthy Body Image Programs. Her philanthropic work has been recognized by a range of organizations including SHE-CAN, Advertising Women of New York, The All-Stars Foundation, Project Kesher and Worldwide Women.

Prior to her philanthropic ventures, Anne served in leadership roles at BBDO, LLNS and TBWA/WorldHealth, Consumer Healthworks, a division of Merkley and Partners, as well as Harrison & Star. Anne also helped launch the iHUG Foundation, a not-for-profit school in Uganda supporting some of that nation’s most needy children.

Most people don’t know that Danny Lewin was likely the first victim to be lost in the 9/11 attacks. By the same token, most people are unaware that Danny was also one of the people who turned the “World Wide Wait” into the speedy internet we know today, as co-founder of Akamai Technologies, a company that used algorithms to put the zip into the speed needed online.

Amazingly, this is only the tip of the iceberg in Danny’s remarkable, short life. Molly Knight Raskin, author of “No Better Time: The Brief, Remarkable Life of Danny Lewin, The Genius Who Transformed The Internet,” tells a compelling story of an amazing man who accomplished great things during his abbreviated life.

This is a biography that you will truly not want to miss.

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Molly and Pam

For more about Molly Knight Raskin, visit her website here.
Follow Molly on twitter @MollyRaskin
To get Molly’s book No Better Time on Amazon, click here

Sacred Power- Author and Speaker Caroline Myss teaches us about our own Sacred Power and how to enhance our lives

When it comes to human consciousness, spirituality, and the science of medical intuition, there is no one more recognizable and respected than Caroline Myss. We talk about her new series on the Gaia network – Sacred Power:Mastering the Nature of Your Soul, and her live event at the GaiaSphere theater in Boulder, CO August 16-18.

Caroline explains how we all are intuitive, how we have to be careful about giving away our power to others, and how everything we do affects others. She also shares how to find trust, why we need to walk our talk, and how we have to tip the world towards compassion and empathy and not towards violence and evil by beating evil at its own game.

We talk about how this is the most pivotal time in history, how we can’t look to the past for answers, and how evil is so very addicting.

Click on the player below to hear the chat with Caroline and Pam

Caroline Myss is a five-time New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned speaker in the fields of human consciousness, spirituality and mysticism, health, energy medicine, and the science of medical intuition. Caroline established her own educational institute in 2003, CMED (Caroline Myss Education), which offers a diverse array of programs devoted to personal development and draws students from all over the world. In addition to hosting a weekly radio show on the Hay House network, Caroline maintains a rigorous international workshop and lecture schedule.

Caroline developed the field of Energy Anatomy, a science that correlates specific emotional/psychological/physical/spiritual stress patterns with diseases. Her research proved so accurate that it became the subject matter of a book co-written by Caroline and Norm: THE CREATION OF HEALTH.

In 1996, Caroline released ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT, a New York Times bestseller that has been published in 28 languages and has sold over 1.5 million copies.

Caroline followed with two more New York Times bestsellers, INVISIBLE ACTS OF POWER in 2004 and ENTERING THE CASTLE in 2007. Caroline’s latest book, DEFY GRAVITY, was released in October 2009, a book exploring the mystical phenomenon of healing that transcends reason.

In addition to her written work, Caroline has produced more than eighty audio/visual products on subjects that include healing, spirituality, personal development, and the study of archetypes.

As with the Kennedy assassination most people remember exactly where they were the day Apollo 11 landed on the surface of the Moon. The world watched in awe as NeilArmstrong and Buzz Aldrinwalked on the Moon. In this extraordinary interview from 2009, Buzz talks about his flight to the Moon and his life after returning to Earth. His book out “Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home From the Moon” is filled with fascinating details of Buzz’s life

What will surprise you is finding out this American Hero also enjoys writing children’s books and even performs “rap” with Snoop Dogg! Listen to the fascinating interview on A Closer Look and be sure to roam about the site for more interviews and information.

When I was offered the opportunity to talk with two of the teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who had been on campus during the horrendous shooting on February 14th of this year, I jumped at the chance. There was so much to ask about. Not only what went through their heads at the time, but also what they saw in the kids that day, and in the days after. Many of these kids came out of it with a mission and purpose, and the energy and determination to see it through.

Melissa Falkowski (journalism) and Eric Garner (broadcast) asked many of their students to write about that day, about how they felt, and what they wanted to accomplish. It’s now in book form, edited by Falkowski and Garner, and titled “WE SAY #NEVERAGAIN,”Reporting by the Parkland Student Journalists.”

The day of the interview was the day after another mass shooting – this time in California at the Borderline Bar and Grill. You can imagine how raw Falkowski and Garner felt when we spoke. We talked about why they asked the students to write these essays, what the kids learned about journalism from the event and its aftermath, and how they see things in these kids that the rest of the world can’t begin to understand.

In December, the Parkland’s March For Our Lives activists were chosen as finalists for the 2018 TIME Magazine Person of the Year. Melissa Falkowski and Eric Garner give us a little insight into why. The book WE SAY #NEVER AGAIN will give you a lot more.

Click on the player below to listen to the conversation with Melissa Falkowski, Eric Garner, and Pam Atherton